Post navigation

30 thoughts on “Cherry Saturday 6-24-2017”

A collarless cat showed up at our house several weeks ago. A neighbor was sure it lived in the neighborhood but not sure where. It kept breaking into the house and several others nearby and eating the cats’ food. And it stayed in my urban back yard where we have seen coyotes during the day four times in the last two months. Late one night we could not stand it staying in the back yard crying so we let it come in for the night. Where upon it refused to leave my house for the next 48 hours. We took it into the vet because its eye became weepy and it may have been injured. The only vet that could fit us in turned out to be the cat’s own vet (it had a locator chip) who called the owner who was glad to get it back but had only noticed it gone for one day.

The cat still comes to our house but I am being firmer about having it stay outside. So I almost adopted a cat.

So on a regular basis, a cat comes to my sister’s porch and starts shrieking to get in. They are cold, they are hot, they are hungry – THEY ARE FREAKING DECLAWED- and the one thing they know for certain is that they are NOT OUTDOOR CATS.

What they don’t know is my sister is kind to animals but doesn’t really like them. So she lets them in – calls animal control and they end up at the pound.

Where their scumbag owners could have dropped them off in the first place without the emotional trauma & potential death.

I’m with the cat – if the owner just noticed the cat was gone when the vet called, you’re a better home.

Saw a fellow do his 5k walk with two German Shepherds on a single split leash. I nearly ran after them going “puppy” like the “fluffy” in Despicable Me. My adult-ish side just wanted to weep with yearning and envy.

I want another dog so much (mine died a few years ago) but I need to be real – I am *never* home and that is *not* fair to a dog. I’ve even thought about cats because they are better at being on their own. Or two dogs who could be friends? Two cats? But I am never home, it is not fair to them.

Just finished working on a book about our relationships with animals: apparently dogs get just as distressed by people’s absence if there’s more than one of them; they don’t provide the comfort for each other that you’d expect. Cats, though, bond to place rather than people, so they sound a better bet for you.

PS. I should check whether cats are really happier when there’s two of them. They’re not social animals like dogs (and us – which of course we project on to them), and I’ve known a couple of different brother and sister pairs owned by friends, where the survivor seemed if anything happier after its sibling eventually died.

We had sibling kitties. The male, my baby, died in September. He made himself sick once because I had been gone for 8 days, back for 4, and then left again for work for 4 days. By the second day of my second trip, he developed a urinary track infection. My husband could tell my kitty had been anxious without me. He was a mama’s boy.

A few years back, he and his sister were playing chase. We believe he got too rough and bit her. She never forgave him and ended up banning him from the second floor, her domain. Since he’s passed, she’s more cautious outside but otherwise seems to love being an only cat. Now, if she’s left alone for about 4 hours or more, she yells at us when we come home. Her brother used to run to the door and greet us with, “Mew! Mew!” Which by tone translated to “Yay! you’re home! I missed you! Come rub my belly!” She says the same thing, “Mew! Mew!” But the tone suggests, “Where the hell have you been?! I had needs and there was no one here to meet them. Hmfph. Now figure out what I want and make it so. Now!”

I’m down to three cats (from five, which shockingly, some people thought was Rather A Lot), one of whom is dying slowly. Which is better than dying fast, like his mother did a year ago, but still. Two cats seems like Hardly Any Cats, but his sister Magic the Cat, Queen of the Universe, probably won’t deal well with me bringing in anyone new, although pal Angus would love someone else to play with.

I was at the vet’s yesterday and saw four adorable kittens. Two tiny gray ones and two mid-sized stripy ones, one with extra toes. EXTRA TOES. I didn’t adopt any. This required an act of will on a par with walking past a bakery when you haven’t eaten in a week, but I kept reminding myself that at the moment I still have three cats, one of whom gets five medicines a day plus sub-q fluids every other day, and that my hands are completely full.

But oh my goddess, they were SO CUTE.

As for what’s new, I’m halfway through the newest book for Llewellyn (ironically, The Book of Cat Magic) and itching to start the humorous woman’s fiction novel that’s up next. I get to learn how to milk a goat for this one. I’m sure that will go well.

I would MUCH rather milk a goat than get a tattoo. At least I can leave the goat behind if it doesn’t go well.

I am, in fact, rather excited about learning to milk a goat. Which probably just means I need to get a life 🙂

(Although I’ll let you know if I’m still excited once I’ve tried it. One friend has suggested I have pictures taken of the experience. I suspect she thinks it will all be rather humorous. Tut. So little faith.)

I had a brother & sister (so adorable, matching markings only his were orange and hers were black) which came from my sister’s. And then a tiny tiny tuxedo my sister found by the side of the road. (I had animals for 20 years and I never picked one out myself.) The two older cats took immediately to the new kitten and the kitten adored them.

When the two older cats were both gone (kidneys – about a year apart) the tuxedo walked around the house crying. So a client had to give up their cat since it bit the wife and I offered to take it since 1. it was a fairly nice black cat and 2. my cat wanted another cat in the house.

Oh, no. Muffin wanted her cats back. This new cat was not a substitute and she despised Persephone the day she came into this house until the day Persephone died.

So before anything comes into the house, you might try an introduction on neutral ground. Because I never would have guessed how much Muffin would hate the replacement.

My cat died 2 weeks ago after 5 days of sickness. I miss her so much. She was a rescue and we’ll definitely rescue another one, though it might take a 6 months till we’re both at that point. Right now, I really miss having a cat, but I don’t really want another cat, I just want Puss back.

Haven’t had a dog for years now but maybe soon. My granddaughter said to me,”Grammy, can you buy a dog?” It was very difficult to agree as she was looking at me with those soulful eyes as if I were the only adult who could make her world right. Mommy doesn’t want a dog. Son would probably agree but….. other son and dil are in France for several months. They took their dog, Marlowe, the amazing Aussie shepherd with them. Apparently the best airline to use when taking a dog to Europe is Luthsansa airlines. He is a champion traveller now. He will be sooo happy to see us next month when we meet them in Spain. Marlowe is our family dog when we need a dog fix. Maybe soon a Wheaton terrier.

I saw the cutest Puppy yesterday. So cute. I’m getting close but we still travel on a whim.

I took 5 of my foster kittens to an adoption event yesterday–the first one for any of them. It went… rather badly. It was a new location, and I got lost on the way there. Around the time I realized I was very lost… I heard vomiting in the carriers sitting behind me in the car. Then I heard crying. Then, a few minutes later… I smelled diarrhea.

When I got to the event and unloaded the kittens… they were covered in vomit and diarrhea, and hysterical. Fortunately, there were grooming facilities there, so I could bathe them–and they HATED me for that. By the time they were dried off and safely in their display cages, they were exhausted and slept through the event. I was a little tired by then, too.

I had a busy day after getting them home. But they remembered their grievances. When I fed them their dinner that night… they tripped me on the stairs. I went flying–and so did wet food for 5 kittens. It landed on the carpet, and they stomped around on it, making sure it really saturated the fibers, while I lay in a winded heap nearby, my ankle throbbing.

I fostered a mommy cat who had 3 kittens. Then the shelter said “you have the only nursing mommy cat. We need to add two kittens, if she’ll take them” so I ended up with 5 kittens. I cheerfully turned in all 5 to the shelter, to the amazement of everyone who heard about it.

A friend of mine got adopted by a cat this month. She (the cat) was a semi-feral who had been regularly fed by someone else in the neighborhood, but that person died. The cat apparently checked out the whole area and decided my friend was the most likely sucker. (As indeed she was.)

The friend’s two dogs and the cat established detente very quickly and painlessly, and the cat is now living indoors. I get to meet her next week if everyone’s schedule aligns. 🙂

2+

Comments are closed.

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of twenty novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in New Jersey surrounded by deer, bears, foxes, and dachshunds, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.